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The Legends of Ixalan

Now that Ixalan cards are being revealed, we get a chance to talk
about the new cards, and I can't wait! Recent sets have seen a lot of
impressive cards for casual play and especially casual multiplayer games.
Between Kaladesh and Amonkhet, we have seen a glut of
delightful cards that make crazy decks and improve on all sorts of decks
that were already out there.

So far though, the legends in this set have been… different. Wizards seemed
to have decided to give us legends that look rather weak as commanders of
their own decks. The legends each seem to have a drawback that make them
poor choices as commanders. However, their value when considered as part of
the 99 shoots right up! I thought we could look at the commanders revealed
so far and look at how each struggles as a commander but shines as a
lieutenant!

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Okay, right off, why is this a legendary creature? In regular gameplay,
having two of these out would mean that if one nontoken vampire attacked
you would get two 1/1 lifelink Vampires. If two Vampires attacked, you
still only get two 1/1 lifelink Vampires. Are two l/1 tokens a threat? I
play plenty of 60-card casual games and this card looks like fun, but not
particularly broken if more than one copy was in play at once.

The real issue is with Commander. A Vampire lord that is only white? So I'm
supposed to build a Vampire deck using only white Vampires? This is a white
commander that essentially reads, “whenever Mavren Fein attacks, get a 1/1
token with lifelink.” Solid, but nothing all that exciting. While this will
undoubtedly be better once this set and the next set in the block are
released, this as a commander is weak.

I do love what this card is trying to do and it really works in a
white-black commander deck. It slots in well with the vampire-themed deck
from Commander 2017. It encourages you to attack with at least one
of your creatures, leaving you with a replacement creature that can block.
If you stack the triggers correctly, the white Vampire Token this creates
gets a +1/+1 counter when Edgar Markov attacks. Having lifelink on the
Vampire Token makes Licia, Sanguine Tribune a little cheaper to cast if you
attack and gain a life from it. The synergy is there. Just wish they had
included it in the Commander deck in the first place. A nice card for
Commander, just not as your commander.

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So the Captain gives you one mana of any color when the Captain attacks.
This is going to be a mono-red Commander deck and your commander gives you
a single mana when attacking. The fact that it is colored mana is almost
irrelevant in a mono-red build. Once the game gets to five or six lands per
player, Captain Storm is going to be way outmatched and you'll be losing it
again and again just to get an artifact that gives you one mana. When you
see Neheb, the Eternal was in the last set and provides tons of mana with
far less risk, you'll realize that the Captain is not a commander.

The Captain can really shine is in the 99 of another deck. Creating a
couple of early artifact tokens lets you ramp out a creature early,
especially in a deck with a multicolored commander. I can see adding this
to several Boros builds to get a nice mana boost many of those decks
desperately needs

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Remember Depala? The dwarf and vehicle lord from Kaladesh who
everyone knew wasn't so great now, but just wait until the rest of the
Dwarves and awesome vehicles hit? Yeah, I forgot about Depala too.

I want Admiral Brass to be good. I love the idea of pirates in Magic
, I really do. But Brass is going to need a lot of good, evasive pirates
and I'm not sure that will happen, even by the end of Ixalan block.
I know, I said these legendary creatures were good in the 99, but Admiral
Brass is going to need to sit on the sidelines for a good long while before
making the cut in a deck's 99.

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So when Gishath, Sun's Avatar does seven damage to an opponent and you show
the next seven cards in your deck. Since there are practically no Dinosaurs
in the set, you'll find nothing and those cards will go to the bottom of
your library. At best, in a deck with dinosaurs, I expect Gishath is going
to find a Dinosaur once. This makes most of this Dinosaur's text extinct of
value.

I would love to see Dinosaurs worth adding to the deck hit the battlefield.
Even adding changelings doesn't really make this a viable Dinosaur deck.
Perhaps some time in the future when Dinosaurs have run rampant through a
couple of sets, Gishath will be a star. Perhaps this might work in a deck
that is interested in the cards at the bottom of your library, but right
now, that is pretty much just Grenzo, and Gishath is in the wrong colors.

Without the Dinosaur option though, what this really asks is, “do you want
a 7/6 with trample, vigilance, and haste that costs eight as your Naya
commander?” Eight mana is a tough sell for any commander and Marath,
Mayael, Gahiji, Johan, and Rith all offer better options.

As one of the 99? I like this card. Eight mana is still a lot, but trample
and vigilance means that it can swing and block in the same round and six
toughness demands a removal spell most won't want to use. This is a
creature that would love to get +1/+1 counters from Marath. It is perfect
for a Mayael deck, hitting the battlefield for six mana.

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Just what does Tishana, Voice of Thunder want from a deck? It is as big as
the number of cards you have in hand, and you have no maximum hand size, so
clearly you are running a control deck and Tishana is a finisher in the
deck. However, when Tishana enters the battlefield you draw a card for each
creature you control, so Tishana must want to Replenish your hand after
playing a bunch of creatures.

Tishana as a finisher is going to need some help, since it has no
protection or evasion. Now add in the seven mana cost and Tishana continues
to be an awkward card to play. Not impossible, but awkward.

Now, there are ways around these issues. Talrand is just one example of a
legend that does a great job of playing creatures while filling its hand
just by playing card drawing spells. Tishana can be made to work.

Here again though, I think I'd prefer Tishana as one of the 99. Vorel would
love Tishana in the deck as a way to draw cards. Between Parallel Lives and
Doubling Season, there are usually five or more creatures on the
battlefield for a Vorel deck. Adding five cards to hand and having a
commander that can quickly pile +1/+1 counters on Tishana, one small piece
of evasion can make this merfolk shaman amazing! Any green-blue deck that
accumulates creatures on the board can probably find a home for Tishana in
the 99.

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This is the only legendary creature from Ixalan (so far) that is
playable as your commander. There are plenty of good Merfolk. There is a
Modern Merfolk list that sees regular play! A quick perusal of the internet
will find plenty of interesting Merfolk Commander decks. Kopala's ability
to protect your Merfolk will let the deck do what it wants to do and make
it that much harder to stop. The downside lies with the all-blue aspect.
Plenty of interesting Merfolk are multicolored, so they will be left out of
this deck. I like Sygg, River Guide, but you are going to have to dig a
little deeper. Although, with a creature type like Merfolk, there is plenty
to choose!

A few of the new cards fit really well in this deck. Both Jace
planeswalkers make good sense, with card drawing and ways to untap
creatures. I like Vanquisher's Banner a lot. It can be a straight-up
replacement in old creature theme decks with Coat of Arms or act as an
addition. Many theme decks have trouble drawing extra cards and the Banner
solves that problem almost on its own. This card is going to be an easy way
to see if a creature-themed decklist you see online has been updated since Ixalan. This card is just that good! I also looked at Heirloom's
Blade, but with this list I'm not sure if it is worth it. There are plenty
of Merfolk and they are already fairly inexpensive so the benefit of this
card gets reduced a bit. I just wasn't sure what I would remove to add it
in. After some testing, expect to see the weakest Merfolk dropped for the
Blade.

The question becomes whether you want to make Kopala, Warden of Waves your
commander or one of the 99. I really like the Wizard's ability to protect
Merfolk and think if you are trying to run a Merfolk-themed deck this is a
way to go. Other Merfolk might be better, but those Merfolk aren't
necessarily best at the helm of a Merfolk deck. I like Vorel, Talrand, and
Empress Galina, but none of them are particularly stars if you are looking
at a Merfolk creature-themed deck. However, Kopala acts as excellent
protection for any Merfolk commander, no matter how small the theme is
after that. It is up to you to decide if Kopala in the 99 wrecks what the
deck is doing so much that it doesn't make sense, but if you are already
running Lightning Greaves and/or Swiftfoot Boots, Kopala could be a viable
alternative.

There are so many perspectives to view new Magic cards as they come
out, even when just looking at the cards from the Commander side of things.
Part of the joy of Magic is finding a place for a card where others
discard it. I hope to see some of these cards showing up in playgroups once Ixalan hits the shelves!

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